Republican Sen. John McCain made three "big" mistakes while campaigning. Add those to the fact he had to follow in the footsteps of an unpopular president, and the Democrats were almost guaranteed a win Nov. 4, a political analyst said Friday. "It was a very unusual election, and almost all trend lines said it would be a Democratic victory," said Jerry Mayer, associate professor at George Mason University's School of Public Policy and director of the master's of public policy program. "It was not your year, Republicans."